We have written a blog series of 6 posts describing a Decision Model Use Case. Because it concerns a series of multiple blogs and it may be difficult to oversee the whole. We will outline the full picture in this blog.

Summary

The Use Case is about accessing a Decision Model via ICS from PCS. The data used in the DM is retrieved from a Business Object in ICS and sent to the DM. The DM request data and the DM outcomes are stored in a BO in JSON format via an integration. Continue reading →

In this blog we describe a way to store the Input and Output of Decision Model Invokes (in JSON format).

From an administrative point of view, we at Jarvis believe it is important that we can always see how we have achieved certain results. In this case this means that we want to know with which variables the Decision Model was invoked and what the outcomes were. How we do this is subject of this blog.

Saving the results is e.g. possible after performing the ‘Calculate Delivery Time’ integration in the Process.

However, we have chosen to do this in the integration that we have already created (Managing DM Masterdata Validity Period) so that the process is not polluted with this technical step. As will appear later in this blog, we have to slightly update the payload of the call.

The integration looks like this at the end of this previous blog.

And here the integration as it should be. The DMStorage step with associated mapping has been added.

In a previous blog we described how to retrieving the masterdata from a VBCS Business Object. In this blog we will expand this further with a validity period for the masterdata.

Now let’s expand our scenario (see previous blog) a little further. Currently, one of the means of transport in the Decision model is a bike. Many bikes in the Netherlands are currently being replaced by an electrically powered version. Jarvis Pizzeria will also replace regular bikes with electric bikes from the new year. The change must also be implemented in the system (read Decision Model).

In part 1 of this blog we moved the masterdata from the Decision to the Integration. In this blog we take the next step by retrieving the masterdata from a VBCS Business Object.

In the previous blog we ended with a hard-coded mapping in the ICS integration to the Decision service.

But moving the hard-coded data from the Decision service to the Integration is a waste of time. Or according to a Dutch saying “lead over old iron”. Again, a component must be reactivated in case of changes in the value ​​of the variables.

The Auto REST feature allows you to quickly set up REST services on your ORDS enabled database. This feature allows users wanting to quickly enable database objects and run basic queries. Users wanting more complex operations will need the Full REST development setup.

In order to use the Auto REST functionality, only a few actions are required. Although the amount of work when using the Full REST option is not too bad, it is still considerably more than with Auto REST.

To reduce the effort difference between Auto REST and Full REST, fellow Jarvis owner Rick has developed an ORDS-CRUD generator. With the help of this tool it is possible to generate CRUD templates for REST enabled resources (e.g. an address table).

The tool is available in a VBCS and a JSFiddle variant.

Remark: the tool only just exists, and new functionalities / possibilities are added regularly. So keep following the development.

This blog is a follow up of Using a DM in ICS, but can also be read as a separate item.

We have implemented the decision table below in a Decision Model (see Using a DM in PCS) and we have made the Decision Model accessible through an integration (see Using a DM in ICS). But now let’s look at the data in this table.

Suppose that it turns out that deliveries by scooter at distances above 5 Km turn out to be faster than expected (because this is usually outside built-up areas, where there is less traffic).

For this we have to adjust the CalculateDeliveryTime in line 6 of the table from 20 to e.g. 18. Once this is done we must activate a new snapshot. Because the integration of the previous blog refers to the LATEST snaphot version, no further adjustments are needed. The Decision integration can be used unchanged.

I'm an experienced consultant in the field of process design and process modeling. Within this field system integration and IT-transcending business processes have my special interest.
Currently I’m specialist in Oracle technology like on-premise SOA and BPM suite (including all kind of related technology) and in the Cloud, OIC, PCS, ICS and VBCS.